Recent Media Coverage of "Operation Reconquista"
Also, a change of venue for "Experimental Sermons"
Readers will remember that I profiled Redeemed Zoomer on this Substack back in June.
Christianity Today just profiled him and the Reconquista movement as well. Episcopalians are playing an outsized part.
The article begins:
“It’s October 31 in Denver. Snow is falling. A cutting wind makes the air feel much colder than it is. But nothing will stop Jake Boston, a Gen Z Episcopalian, from celebrating the holiday.”
And continues:
“The Episcopalian wing, which Redeemed Zoomer reports has seen the most success, is led by a young woman. But the group’s members are mostly young men, and Zoomer argues this is an asset in a time when—as is increasingly recognized even outside the church—young men are adrift in a predominantly progressive culture with no positive vision for masculinity and desperate to be connected to a mission that gives their lives purpose.”
Predictably, the author worries about the militant tone struck by the word “reconquista.” I myself raised this early on here and here.
I think Redeemed Zoomer handled that question well:
“When I asked Zoomer if allusions to violent conquests might lead the group astray, he noted that the Bible, too, uses military metaphors for the life of faith (e.g., Eph. 6, Phil. 2:25, 2 Tim. 2:3). He hopes Reconquista will channel youthful energy, which may otherwise be spent on vacuous or outright noxious pugilism, toward noble ends.
“As a safeguard, the group has invited older mainline pastors to join Reconquista, and members are encouraged to rise above the fistic fray, season their speech with love, and challenge each other when they fail to meet these goals. Reconquista wants to be characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, Redeemed Zoomer told me, not by the belligerent neo-pagan Twitter dunking of Andrew Tate wannabes.”
I have the privilege to be one of those “older mainline pastors.”
You can read the whole article here.
A service note
I will be stepping down from the pulpit at St. Peter’s Lithgow on November 19, 2023.
Experimental Sermons will continue intermittently for the time being and then regularly once again after I settle into my new call.
Experimental Sermons will remain free because the Word of God is free, but if you feel moved to support this ministry, you can do so here.
I am grateful to all of you who have become paid subscribers in the past two months.